Heating and Ventilating Systems 39

burner. The draft fan forces air into the combustion chamber and
combustion takes place. The hot combustion gases flow down the
chamber and into the tubes for the second pass back to the front of
the boiler. As the gases pass through the tubes they are giving up
heat into the water. The gases enter into the front chamber of the
boiler, called the header, and make another loop to the back of the
boiler for the third pass. The fourth pass brings the hot gases back
to the front of the boiler and out the stack. The temperature in the
combustion chamber is several thousand degrees while the tem-
perature of the gases exiting the stack should be about 320 degrees
(or 150 degrees above the medium temperature).

BURNERS

The function of the burner is to deliver, ignite and burn the

proper mixture of air and fuel. The types of burners are varied
and selection depends on the design of the boiler. For instance,
gas burners are classified as atmospheric or mechanical-draft
burners. Atmospheric burners are sub-classified as natural-draft
or Venturi burners. Mechanical-draft burners are either forced- or
induced-draft burners. A typical gas burner used on large indus-
trial and commercial boilers is a burner with a fan or blower at
the inlet. This type of burner, which is a forced-draft burner, is
called a power burner (Figure 3-7). It uses the blower to provide
combustion air to the burner and the combustion chamber under
pressure and in the proper mixture with the gas over the full
range of firing from minimum to maximum. Another type of gas
burner uses a blower at the outlet of the combustion chamber to
create a slight partial vacuum within the chamber. This causes a
suction which draws air into the chamber. This type of burner is
called an induced-draft burner.
Oil burners (Figure 3-8), except for small domestic types, de-
liver the fuel to the burner under pressure provided by the oil
pump. The heavier oils, numbers 4, 5, and 6, generally require pre-
heating to lower their viscosity so that they can be pumped to the
40 HVAC Fundamentals

Figure 3-7. Gas Power Burner

burner. In addition, all oils must be converted to a vapor before

they can be burned. Large commercial and industrial burners use
two steps to prepare the oil for burning. The first step is called at-
omization which is the reduction of the oil into very small drop-
lets. The second step is vaporization which is accomplished by
heating the droplets. Oil burners are classified by how they pre-
pare the oil for burning such as vaporizing, atomizing or rotary.
Oil burners use the same methods of delivering air to the combus-
tion chamber as do gas burners. They are either natural-, forced-
or induced-draft. Regardless of what type of burner is used,
proper combustion depends on the correct ratio of fuel-to-air.

FUEL-TO-AIR RATIOS

A high fuel-to-air ratio causes sooting and lowers boiler ef-

ficiency. In certain conditions, it may also be dangerous if there’s
not enough air for complete combustion and dilution of the fuel.